Bento Cutting

By Rachelle

My daughter is a curious child, and inevitably finds little treasures that I hide away for rainy days. And so it was with a cute little set of Bento cutting tools this week. But her timing was actually perfect, as It’s just about time to celebrate The Year of the Rabbit. Hopping after the tail of the Feisty Year of the Tiger, The Year of the Rabbit is supposed to be a calm year when we all get a chance to regroup, nest, spend time at home with family, and follow artistic pursuits (!!). Truly, I’m not making this stuff up!

My child loves cutting up play dough and cookie dough, so why not cheese and ham, too? There are some talented folks out there who create gorgeous and hilarious Bento lunches, but I doubt I’ll ever be one of them because my daughter has to be IN CHARGE of the cutting, and I’m merely a lowly sous chef who’s occasionally granted rights to poke cheese through the cutters with a toothpick.

We happen to live near a Daiso store (BEST store ever for people who like to scope out unique, cheap Japanese odds and ends), which is where I scored these fabulous tools. Little hands can use these cutters to easily cut thinly sliced cheese, while cutting meat requires a bit more elbow grease. As such, she beautified a lot more cheese than meat. If you don’t have Bento cutters, small cookie cutters work equally well.

In the end, it wasn’t about the presentation at all. While I was able to squirrel away a few pieces for our sandwiches, she piled all her little pieces into a bowl and then gobbled them all up. We had so much fun making these that I have a feeling you’ll be hearing more about creative lunch-making from us again. Especially since we’re supposed to be following our artistic pursuits this year!

Want more Bento?

I’m so grateful to all of my readers for subscribing to my blog, leaving comments that keep me going, joining me on Facebook, experimenting with your children, and bringing your thoughtful ideas to the table. I happen to be one of the lucky ones who lives near the only Daiso store in the USA, and I want to lend a Bento hand to a loyal reader in need of food beautification! If you leave a comment letting me know how you would use this set by Friday, February 4 at 12 midnight PST you will be entered into a random drawing for the cute Bento tools. (Set includes Stainless rabbit mold for rice, Animal food punching tools, Stainless food storage container, Animal sandwich cutter, Green fruit box, Insulated lunch bag).

Wishing everyone an early happy Lunar New Year!

The winner is selected!! Thank you everyone for your participation. I received so much positive feedback on this giveaway that I’ll be sure to have one again soon. Stay tuned…

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I bet my kids would like cutting out shapes from cheese, although I’d be tempted to try those cutters with Fimo-type clay. Or how about with thin beeswax, to decorate candles? It would be a tough decision, whether to keep them for food or crafts! And I always, always need little storage containers. I send both my boys to school with a zero trash lunch, and every now and then a container goes missing. And that lunch bag? Mine all mine. I don’t have one–all the kids do–but with celiac it’s much safer for me to pack a lunch if I might be gone all day than risk eating cross-contaminated food. (Why don’t I already have a cute lunch bag?!)

I would use these for our upcoming Girlscout Neighborhood Thinking Day International Festival at the Japanese booth! Then I would give them to my 4 year old son to make his lunch for preschool and my older daughters lunch as well!

I would use them to make lunch making fun. Spencer would use them by taking them out of the cupboard and putting them back in. Simone would use them as her “cutest treasures ever!!! (high quiet screeching voice) And Dave would never know we had them.
🙂

Matilda would just love these, putting them in and out of the bag would probably be fun for her, but I think these would be great to use as stencils for painting or sewing which Lil m loves. Could these also serve as cookie moulds?
On another note, I found a lovely cardboard “aquarium” on Made by Joel which was a lot of fun to make with Lil m – you should give it a go! x

I mix it up at meal time once in a while, add a little blue food coloring to cottage cheese and drop in a gold fish crackers. Or use ritz crackers, cheese, and pretzels to make a car. . .with a trailer of course. My favorite thing is when I set a plate in front of M or M and they shout. “I know what I can make with this!” I would go wild with those bento tools. . .I think we would have to extend lunch time.

Such a good idea to add food coloring to cottage cheese. You’re brilliant! And that must bring tears to your eyes when your children have lunchtime bursts of spontaneous creativity. I now see that I have merely touched the tip of the iceberg!

I am very new at bento lunches and could sooo use this set to help get started. My little guy is turning two so Ive been looking for creative ways to get him to eat his lunch at daycare better, so a few weeks ago I started doing bentos but dont have many supplies just yet.
thanks so much for such a great giveaway!

My little one really likes bunny. It will be perfect for the year of the rabbit. She calls her rabbit “maomaotu” or “conejito” in Mandarin and Spanish. She is onto play dough lately and would be wonderful for her to play with them.

I would use it to further encourage my son to try new foods! I find having him help me and also using a dinasaur sandwich cutter helps but he doesn’t venture very far past the few foods he is comfortable with! My husband is asian so it would be nice for him to see it.

I would totally use it for my nephew. Not that he needs any further spoiling, but he’s at that age where he’s starting to get a little picky about food, and I’ve read time and time again that making food look fun/funny is a great helper. I’d use the smaller cutters for veggies (carrots and cucumbers) and make him fun shaped PB&Js.

My daughter-in-law is career USAF, so she, my son and my grandson live overseas. I won’t get to spend more than a week or so once every year or two with my grandson, so it’s important to me that I make our time together very, very special. I’d use those sweet Bento tools to lure CJ into the kitchen with me to make special meals and snacks. I think it would be something he’d remember. Thanks for the chance!

I have a little shelf unit in our little basement studio with little odds and ends organized according to color, a la beautiful stuff. I would put the little pieces in with the “stuff” and let the kids discover them and a use for them, on their own.